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What do films like THE WAILING (2016), TRAIN TO BUSAN (2016), The Handmaiden (2016) and Okja have in common? They all worked with Technical Art Studio CELL, a company that specializes in special effects makeup. Productions that have utilized CELL include recent releases WARRIORS OF THE DAWN, The Merciless and The Sheriff In Town as well as anticipated upcoming releases such as A Taxi Driver, The Battleship Island and Along with the Gods. CELL has become a name that cannot be overlooked in the Korean film industry. We spoke with the head of CELL, HWANG Hyo-gyun, who was kind enough to share a few words with us.

First of all, I am quite thankful that our team was fortunate enough to work on these outstanding films. Their box office successes attracted much attention to the special effects makeup our team worked on. For THE WAILING, we worked on the special effects makeup of Hyo-jin (KIM Hwan-hee) and the stranger (Jun Kunimura), and created the river deer dummy that was devoured. As this film was dealing with a supernatural phenomena, there was a slight level of tolerance towards anything repulsive or excessive we put out. After discussions with the director, Na Hong-jin, we determined the level of makeup through a number of tests. 

TRAIN TO BUSAN may be defined as a zombie film, but in fact, it is a family film. And that is why we avoided creating damaged body parts effects, such as rotting skin or intestine spill-outs, as you get to see in other works such as foreign TV series like The Walking Dead. If foreign zombies are shown as long-transformed beings with dried, shriveled up skin with protruding cheekbones and forehead, we made the ones in TRAIN TO BUSAN with swollen eyelids and noses as they were rapidly transformed through infection and thus couldn’t feel pain when they bumped into things or fell down. Zombies have such a strong western image, so we worked hard to make sure our zombies didn’t clash with the Korean setting and storyline. 

I majored in the arts and always loved watching films. I would repeatedly watch films like RoboCop, Alien and The Terminator when I was a kid. And films such as Joint Security Area / JSA (2000) and Tell Me Something (1999) opened my eyes to the fact that extremely realistic depictions are possible for Korean films. I have total respect for the artists who worked on these films. The first job I chose out of my desire to do something I really liked was a special effects makeup artist. 

Mr. BAEK (CHOI Min-shik)’s half-man, half-animal creature that appeared in Geum-ja (LEE Young-ae)’s illusion in Sympathy For Lady Vengeance (2005) was a combination of dummy, animatronics and animal. It was the kind of work that enabled us to upgrade ourselves to another level. 

The guide robot, In-myeong in Doomsday Book (2012) or robot Sori in SORI: Voice from the Heart (2016) are works that were quite satisfying in terms of the animatronics technology we achieved and all the hard work we put in. Masquerade (2012) is another worthwhile film due to the fact that a majority of the audience never noticed the LEE Byung-hun lying on the floor receiving acupuncture and moxa treatment was in fact a full-bodied dummy of King Gwang-hae.

 

We don’t have any exclusive work principle. However, there is one thing we believe in, and that is to not do something you cannot do. We don’t take jobs that require the technology or abilities we don’t have and subcontract or outsource it to other experts with the technical expertise. 

The usual schedule requires you to be in the workroom for 1-2 months creating a dummy, and then go out on a film shoot for 1-2 days. This is possible because you’re not required to stay on the film shoot all the time. I also believe you get to be more productive when you work hard and rest well. 

I found it more effective to hire one or two more teammates rather than carrying out a 6-day work week policy. Accordingly, we’ve required our employees to work 5 days a week since we first started CELL in 2003. I believe it is better to have full-time employees who can take responsibilities regardless of the quantity of work that come the company’s way instead of hiring part-time workers when the workload gets too big and downsize when there’s not much work. 

There are areas, like plaster, mold, or silicon dummy production, that all employees can handle in general. The specialized fields that we can handle are mechanical fields such as wielding and mechanics, while the art field includes creating dummies, modeling, artificial skin makeup and special props. 

You can tell by the latest Korean films that things that used to be difficult to realize have become possible. By preparing in advance through preparatory meetings and simulations, and collaborations with the CGI team and special effects team, practical results are being achieved. In the past there were areas that weren’t quite defined by team. But during the course of repeatedly solving similar problems, each team now has clear roles they take responsibility for. 

 

The projects that are in production are YOON Jong-bin’s Operation, WOO Min-ho’s Drug King, LEE Jeong-beom’s Bad Police, JANG Joon-hwan’s 1987, HEO Jong-ho’s Monster (W/T) and YEON Sang-ho’s Psychokinesis.